Rahim Allani walked into the Superior Courthouse with a limp and the help of a cane, three years after being struck in a hit-and-run collision that left him with life-altering injuries.
Allani is attending the trial for Arjun Sahota, the man charged with impaired driving and dangerous driving causing bodily harm to Allani and failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing bodily harm.
According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court by Crown prosecutor Chris Ponesse, on Oct. 20, 2022, around 10:40 pm, Allani was walking towards the corner of York and Adelaide streets. At approximately the same time, Sahota was approaching the intersection in his late model BMW, “against traffic” driving westbound on Adelaide Street. Adelaide is a one-way street for eastbound traffic.
As Allani continued walking north, the 43-year-old was struck by Sahota’s vehicle and knocked to the ground. Sahota turned south and drove down York Street, which is a one-way street for northbound traffic. Allani was assisted by a bystander and ultimately taken to hospital.
Ponesse said at approximately 10:47 p.m., Sahota parked on Mercer Street by Blue Jays Way.
“Mr. Sahota turned himself into police on Nov. 8, 2022,” Ponesse told court. “Mr. Allani suffered a fractured L1 vertebra and fractured left tibia.”
According to the facts, Alanni spent eight days in hospital and experienced dizziness, and his concussions continued even after being released from hospital.
Sahota has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Global News has learned that Sahota worked as an adviser to former city councillor Jennifer McKelvie before moving to the Toronto Transit Commission, where he worked as senior communication liaison officer before becoming manager of community and stakeholder relations.
The first witness for the Crown, Serena Tamaya-Heer, testified that on the night of the collision, she was working as an event organizer at a BMW event at the Liberty Grand where roughly 500 people were in attendance.
Tamaya-Heer invited her boyfriend and his friend, Arjun Sahota, to the event because she knew he was “a BMW fan.” She said she had met Sahota a week or two earlier at a birthday party.
Tamaya-Heer said she saw Sahota and her boyfriend arrive around 5:30 p.m. and said they were being served “welcome drinks.” She remembered seeing them drinking wine, or something “white.”
Tamaya-Heer said most guests left around 9 or 9:30 p.m. and the plan was to drive her boyfriend home. Sahota, she said, drove himself.
As they were heading to her car, Tamaya-Heer said her boyfriend realized his house keys and computer were in Sahota’s car. She said her boyfriend began calling Sahota around 10:15 or 10:20 p.m. and she messaged Sahota’s girlfriend, with whom she had connected on Instagram after meeting her at the birthday party a week or so earlier.
Tamaya-Heer said the girlfriend called her back and provided her with an address, saying that Sahota’s phone pinged to Blue Jays Way. When Ponesse asked what she meant by that, the witness explained she assumed the girlfriend had Sahota’s GPS location from his iPhone.
Around the same time, Tamaya-Heer said her boyfriend managed to reach Sahota on his phone, which she overheard because her boyfriend had his phone on speaker.
“Arjun was yelling f—, f—, f—. It was very aggressive,” said Tamaya-Heer who explained that his speech was slurred.
“It didn’t sound like when I had heard him talk before,” she added.
Tamaya-Heer said at some point, she heard Sahota say “Bisha Hotel” and “get a table,” so they drove towards the Bisha Hotel.
Ponesse asked Tamaya-Heer what it was like looking for Sahota. “It was stressful because what initially began as us needing keys turned into a wild goose chase for a drunk guy. My focus was finding out where he was and making sure he wasn’t driving,” Tamaya-Heer said.
Tamaya-Heer said when they arrived at the Bisha Hotel, her boyfriend got Sahota in the car. “He was holding him to try to get him into the vehicle,” she testified. She said once Sahota was in the car, sitting in the back seat behind the driver’s seat, Sahota kept trying to take his seatbelt off and unlock the doors.
She remembered Sahota yelling “that’s my car,” which was parked on nearby Mercer Street. Tamaya-Heer said Sahota and her boyfriend got out and retrieved the keys and computer from Sahota’s car.
“I did smell alcohol once he got into my car. He was very loud, crying at certain points, saying he missed his girlfriend. He was being very rowdy. I remember specifically yelling at him when I got on the Gardiner,” she said, explaining she needed to focus on the road.
“After I yelled at him, he did settle down, he was quietly crying and then he passed out,” Tamaya-Heer said.
Tamaya-Heer said when Sahota woke up, he was crying and trying to get out of her car.
The trial continues.